


Killing Time

by Perkyandproud



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-17
Updated: 2010-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-09 12:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/87585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perkyandproud/pseuds/Perkyandproud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens during those long boring missions between all the action?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [selryel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/selryel/gifts).



> The request was for: Any character or characters. 'Avoiding work.' Even the best jobs have boring bits, and I'm curious to see how those moments get filled. Not working while giving the appearance of working. Creative ways to slack off while still nominally earning your keep.

Quistis peered over the edge of her notebook. The target was still nowhere in sight, good. She read over her notes, then what she had so far:

_Quinn brushed his dark hair back out of his eyes with a careless pass of his hand. His stormy grey eyes considered Vette from the top of her ~~blonde~~ ~~black~~ red haired head to the tips of her boots. She narrowed her ~~blue~~ green eyes and flicked her..._

'Damn,' Quistis thought, closing the notebook. 'I still have no idea which specialty she's in. It can't be the whip or the Trepies will know I wrote it...maybe nunchucks?'

Unbidden an image of Selphie, nunchucks on her shoulder, skirt far too short and personality stuck on festivals and trains, came to her mind. 'No. Just no. Selpie is a good friend, but I am not making her the lead in my romance novel!'

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Zell, his hair down and dressed similar to the other kids in the street, come zipping in her direction, followed by four others, all on hoverboards. She dropped the notebook in her satchel and glared at her teammate, one of the two Squall had assigned with her on this mind-numbing mission.

"Hi Quisty," Zell's voice was pitched low not to carry as he passed by, "Bye Quisty!"

She watched bemused as he disappeared as fast as he'd approached, new friends in tow, then she rested her forehead in the palm of her hand. 'He has no clue about "low key," does he?' Why was she not surprised. She fastened her satchel containing her manuscript and stood up. She dropped some gil on the table and made her way through the tables to the gate of the café's sidewalk seating area. 'If he spooks our target...' she thought crossly.

Just then the person she had been waiting for exited the building across from her and headed for the car waiting at the curb. She started toward him thinking quickly of how to plant one of the bugs she carried on him without garnering suspicion. 'I wonder what Vette would do...'

Again she spotted Zell out of the corner of her eye, this time moving faster about a half block ahead of his cohorts.

"Gangway!" he yelled, zigzagging through the crowd on his hoverboard. She had no idea how he managed to stay on the thing. "Watch out! Move!"

Their target barely had time to blink before Zell barreled into him, knocking him off his feet. Quistis winced in sympathy. Zell's appearance belied his true strength and the hoverboard had been traveling at near top speed. There was a reason he wasn't allowed to use it inside the Garden.

Zell didn't bother to stop but raced on by with a mocking laugh. "Told ya!" he shot back over his shoulder as he sped out of sight.

"Blond menace," the target snarled. He picked himself up, brushing off those who would help. "Why don't they lock kids like that up?" He spotted the other kids coming and quickly got into the back of the waiting car, telling the driver to drive.

Too professional to break cover, Quistis watched the car drive off and sedately strolled back to the hotel room she was sharing with Zell and Irvine. Once the door closed, however, she swore vehemently.

"Woah!" Zell's eyes, looking up at her from where he was flopped down on the floor, were wide. "I didn't know you knew words like that!"

Irvine looked up from his magazine, 'Guns and Girls' then slowly hid back behind it.

Quistis was too focused on Zell to yell at the sniper. She glared down at the fighter. "What do you think you were doing? We were supposed to plant a tracer on him. Instead, you scared the target off before I could get close!"

Zell sat up and frowned at her. "I did plant it. See?" He grabbed the monitor off the bed where Irvine was laying and held it up.

She blinked, stopped in her tracks. "How? ...When?"

Zell grinned. "Junctioned to speed and luck and un-mugged him!"

"And if he remembers who hit him?" she asked. Though admittedly in local street clothes with his hair down he looked a lot different.

"What? One more crazy kid on a hoverboard? Nah!" He handed her the monitor. "So, mission objective part one, accomplished, right?"

"The Garden isn't paying you to ride your hoverboard, you know," she told him, trying to hang onto her anger.

He grinned at her. "They were today!"


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quistis, Irvine and Zell discuss protection.

"Seriously," Quistis asked the cowboy, "you read it for the articles?"

Irvine grinned. "Mostly. The pics are there to draw in the amateurs and hobbyists. The real pros are after the tips section in the back."

"And the naked women are just a bonus?" she asked.

"There are hot guys, too! And like, none are actually fully naked," Irvine said. "'sides, I prefer a more natural look."

She raised an eyebrow, leaving her arms crossed as they'd been since the start of the conversation.

"They use petrify, I've heard," Zell piped up from where he was sprawled on the floor. "Position 'em, zap 'em, smooth out lines and wrinkles and...you now, lift stuff."

Quistis kept her eyes on Irvine, not needing to look at Zell to know he was blushing. "Really."

Zell rolled over and sat up. "Come on, Quisty, you've been in more girl's lockers than Irvine, do large breasts really behave like that?" He nodded at the picture currently face up on the bed.

Irvine scooted over so he could see Zell better. "So how would you know then?"

The fighter was still pink, but his expression was serious, causing Quistis to raise her other brow. "'cause I've had to help the martial artists tape up." At two blank looks he clarified, turning dark red again. "Sports bras are enough for most, but some need extra binding so they don't, you know, bounce around and hurt themselves."

"Oh," Irvine said with a nod. "Like guys wear jocks for jogging and stuff so they don't strain something."

"I guess," Zell said, shrugging.

"You guess?" Irvine asked. "What? You don't have enough to jiggle?"

Zell's blush was not going away. "Nah, first lesson you learn when specializing in martial arts is to _always_ wear a cup." He knocked on his, making both his teammates jump. "Instructor punches you in the privates as soon as you put down the pen at sign up. 's why it's always done in their office."

"Aren't you the instructor now?" Quistis asked, down to one raised eyebrow again.

He grinned. "One of them. Don't worry, I pull my punches. But none of my students ever forget!"

Irvine shuddered and shook his head. "But why are you wearing one now? We sure aren't in the gym."

Zell leveled a look up at him. "Even a grat'll do damage if they get you in the nuts, cowboy. My training lets me ignore a lot of pain, but that is something else again!"

Quistis filed all of this information away under 'notes' and held up the tracking monitor. "Guys..."

"Yo," Zell added, "haven't you ever wondered why, in basic unarmed defense classes they tell you, 'This is a highly effective method...unless you face a Garden trained martial artist?'"

Irvine tugged at his ponytail. "I, uh, never had to take those. I went sniper real early."

Zell was on his feet faster than Quistis could blink. "What? That's not right! You could... You...tell him, Quisty!"

She was taken aback by how intense he'd become. Trying to calm him down, she pointed out, "Some cadets get pulled for their specializations before they have a chance, Zell. It's not..."

"Doesn't excuse them anymore," he said, shaking his head. He crossed his arms in front of him and glared at them both. "I talked the Headmaster out of _that_ stupid idea when I joined the instruction team!"

"What's the big deal?" Irvine drawled. "I'm a sniper, what do I really need hand to hand training for?"

Again, faster than a blink, Zell had Irvine down on the floor and pinned. "'cause sometimes you get caught up close without your weapon," he told the other man, his voice as serious as Quistis ever remembered it being.

Irvine struggled under Zell, futilely. "I wouldn't have been without it if I'd had a second's warning!" His red face reflected his surprise and anger.

Quistis put a hand on Zell's shoulder and tugged gently so he'd let Irvine up. She was shocked herself by how quickly he'd taken Irvine out. It is one thing to see him take out the enemy, another to realize how vulnerable you yourself were. "I...think that was the point he was trying to make, Irvine. Even caught unaware, a martial artist is never unarmed." She sighed. "We have some downtime while waiting for Target A to lead us to his contact, maybe..."

"Ah, man!" Irvine got up, brushing off Zell's offer of a hand up. "You're gonna make me learn hand to hand while we're waiting? I had plans!"

"No," Quistis said. She smiled wryly at Irvine's grin and Zell's disappointment. "_We_ are going to learn hand to hand while we wait."

"What?" Irvine protested.

Zell frowned at her in confusion.

She raised a hand. "Child prodigy. I never had to take it either. Zell...has an excellent point, Irvine. It would be bad for our reputation if SEEDs could be easily subdued, caught away from their weapons." Quistis felt a small twinge of guilt. In her honest opinion, against anyone less skilled than Zell, of whom there were not many, if any at all, she would lay her money on herself or Irvine. She was taking advantage of Zell's zeal and Irvine's misfortune simply so she could spend their downtime working on her novel! 'I so know what Vette's specialty is,' she thought smugly. 'This will be easy.'

"Ah, man," Irvine repeated. He sat back down on the floor and, resting his elbows on his knees, he rubbed his temples. "This is gonna suck!"

**Author's Note:**

> There is more coming...


End file.
